Intro for June 14, 2016

By now, we all know his name. In the days to come, we will all know his story and that will be the primary focus. But what about their names? What about their stories? We should know them too. If you have time today and if you haven’t already, please click here to meet them.

Last week, much of the conversation was dominated by someone else whose name we don’t know. She has chosen to remain anonymous, to reclaim the anonymity assigned to her after she became a victim, assigned to a description that was “ten syllables (intoxicated, unconscious woman), and nothing more than that” while her rapist enjoyed the luxury of being called an All American swimmer, a young man with a promising future, a top athlete, a future Olympian. Her presence was felt though on Sunday at Stanford University’s commencement. They didn’t know her name but they all knew her story – which is what she hoped for: proving that even though she’s nameless, she is still “worthy of respect” and “should be listened to”.

Yours in gossip,

Lainey

PS. Programming note: I’m travelling today and the flight doesn’t work well with the blog schedule. A couple of posts have been prepared in advance but I won’t be able to get to more until I arrive in Banff. Apologies in advance if the site is lighter today. Will do my best to load up as soon as I arrive.